This session walks you through some of the more advanced features offered in Alexa Skill Builder, like Dialog Management, Entity Resolution, state management, session persistence, and maintaining context. Using Dialog Management, you can engage skill users in a multi-turn dialog to elicit and confirm slots for an intent. Using Entity Resolution, you can greatly simplify slot management by mapping multiple synonyms of your slot to a unique ID. We couple these conversational techniques with the management of session state and persistence to enable memory and personalization.

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AWS re:INVENT
ALX 401: CONVERSATION
AND MEMORY
A L X 4 0 1 : A D V A N C E D S K I L L S
J U S T I N J E F F R E S S @ S L E E P Y D E V E L O P E R
F R A N K L I N L O B B @ F R A N K L I N L O B B

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CONVERSATION AND MEMORY
D I A L O G M A N A G E M E N T
E N T I T Y R E S O L U T I O N
M E M O R Y M A N A G E M E N T
A L X 4 0 1 A D V A N C E D A L E X A S K I L L B U I L D I N G :

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1 9 7 0 s 1 9 8 0 s 1 9 9 0 s P R E S E N T2 0 0 0 s
Character Mode
GUI
Web
Mobile
VUI

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CONVERSATION

5. ALEXA SKILLS KIT
Request
Audio
Visual
Speech Recognition
Machine Learning
Natural Language Understanding
Text to speech
Response
Your
Service

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VISUAL ELEMENTS

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UTTERANCES, INTENTS & SLOTS
Find me a pet.
Find me a dog.
I’d like a dog for my family that’s big and high energy.
I want a dog that’s tiny, low energy to guard my
house.
Intents
PetMatchIntent
AMAZON.CancelIntent
AMAZON.HelpIntent
AMAZON.StopIntent

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UTTERANCES, INTENTS & SLOTS
Find me a pet.
Find me a dog.
I’d like a dog for my family that’s big and high energy.
I want a dog that’s tiny, low energy to guard my
house.
Intents
PetMatchIntent
AMAZON.CancelIntent
AMAZON.HelpIntent
AMAZON.StopIntent

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SLOTS
{size}
tiny
small
medium
large
I want a that’s energy, for my,{pet}
dog
{energy}
low
med
high
{temperament}
family
guard

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SLOTS
{size}
tiny
small
medium
large
{pet}
dog
{energy}
low
med
high
{temperament}
family
guard

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SLOTS
{size}
tiny
small
medium
large
I want a that’s energy, for my,{pet}
dog
{energy}
low
med
high
{temperament}
family
guard

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SLOTS
{size}
tiny
small
medium
large
I want a that’s energy, for my,{pet}
dog
{energy}
low
med
high
{temperament}
family
guard

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ONE SHOT INVOCATION

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ONE SHOT INVOCATION

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USE CONVERSATION

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USE CONVERSATION

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EVERYONE IS HAPPY

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LET’S BUILD A SKILL THAT USES IT
alexa.design/petmatch-lab-1
Don’t have a device? You can test using echosim.io

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WHAT DID I ACCOMPLISH?
Created a skill
Created an AWS Lambda Function
Used Dialog Management

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CONVERSATION AND MEMORY
DIALOG MANAGEMENT
ENTITY RESOLUTION
MEMORY MANAGEMENT
A L X 4 0 1 A D V A N C E D A L E X A S K I L L B U I L D I N G :

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I want a small dog I want a tiny dog I want a little dog
MANY WAYS TO SAY THE SAME THING

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SYNONYMS
{size} Synonyms
tiny little
small little, petite
medium medium size, average
large huge, gigantic

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COMPLEX SYNONYMS
{energy} Synonyms
high high energy, energetic, play fetch, go
hiking, hike, run, play frisbee, that I
can run with
med plays tug of war, tug of war, fun to
play with, for my apartment
low lazy, to watch Amazon Video with, to
cuddle with

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WHAT HAPPENS UPON A MATCH?
"slots": {
"size": {
"value": "huge",
"resolutions": {
"resolutionsPerAuthority": [ {
"status": {
"code": "ER_SUCCESS_MATCH”},
"values": [{
"value": {
"name": "large"
}
}],
…
{size}
tiny
small
medium
large

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CONVERSATION

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EASE OF PROGRAMMING

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THIRD PARTY API REQUIREMENTS
{team} Synonyms
LAD Dodgers, Trolley Dodgers, Greatest Team Ever
…

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THIRD PARTY API REQUIREMENTS
{team} Synonyms
LAD Dodgers, Trolley Dodgers, Greatest Team Ever
SF Giants, Team that every Dodger fan hates
HOU Astros, Houston, Houston Astros, Losers, Bums
…

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SYNONYMS
{size} Synonyms
tiny little
small little, petite
medium medium size, average
large huge, gigantic

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ENTITY RESOLUTION – MULTIPLE
"slots": {
"size": {
"value": "little",
"resolutions": {
"resolutionsPerAuthority": [ {
"status": {
"code": "ER_SUCCESS_MATCH"},
"values": [{
"value": {
"name": "tiny”
},
"value": {
"name": "small”
}}] …
{size}
tiny
small
medium
large

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SLOT VALIDATION
{pet} Synonyms
dog puppy, pooch
mythical_creatures dragon, unicorn, chimera

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WHAT IF THE USER SAYS DRAGON?
"slots": {
"pet": {
"value": "dragon",
"resolutions": {
"resolutionsPerAuthority": [ {
"status": {
"code": "ER_SUCCESS_MATCH"},
"values": [{
"value": {
"name": "mythical_creatures"
}
}]
…
{pet} Synonyms
dog puppy, …
mythical_creatures dragon, unicorn, …

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WHAT ABOUT NO MATCH? - PIZZA
"slots": {
"size": {
"value": "pizza",
"resolutions": {
"resolutionsPerAuthority": [ {
"status": {
"code": "ER_SUCCESS_NO_MATCH"},
"values": [],
…
{size} Synonyms
tiny little
small little, petite
… …

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WHAT ABOUT NO MATCH? - ITTY BITTY
"slots": {
"size": {
"value": "itty bitty",
"resolutions": {
"resolutionsPerAuthority": [ {
"status": {
"code": "ER_SUCCESS_NO_MATCH"},
"values": [],
…
{size} Synonyms
tiny little
small little, petite
… …

35. © 2017, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
LET’S ADD ENTITY RESOLUTION TO OUR
SKILL
alexa.design/petmatch-lab-2
Synonyms
Disambiguation
Slot Validation

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WHAT DID I ACCOMPLISH?
Synonyms
Disambiguation
Slot Validation

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CONVERSATION AND MEMORY
D I A L O G M A N A G E M E N T
E N T I T Y R E S O L U T I O N
M E M O R Y M A N A G E M E N T
A L X 4 0 1 A D V A N C E D A L E X A S K I L L B U I L D I N G :

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MEMORY

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JUST KIDDING

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CONTENT DISTINCTION
Skill Data User Data

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CONTENT DISTINCTION
Skill Data User Data
• The data your skill needs
• Level data
• Prompts
• Media assets
• User specific
• Progress
• High score
• Preferences

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SKILL MEMORY
Skill Lambda Pet API

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SKILL MEMORY
S3
Skill Lambda Pet API

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PERSISTING USER MEMORY
DynamoDB
Skill Lambda Pet API

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ADD PERSISTENCE TO PET MATCH
alexa.design/petmatch-lab-3
Skill Lambda Pet API
S3 DynamoDB

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WHAT DID I ACCOMPLISH?
Web Service Calls
User Specific Memory

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SUMMARY
• Dialog Management
• Delegate Slot Elicitation
• Entity Resolution
• Synonyms
• Disambiguation (DM + ER)
• Slot Validation
• Memory Management
• Web Service Calls
• Persistence

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WHAT NEXT?
Keep designing for voice
Learn more about AWS Services
Make it your own and publish it
Attend more sessions at re:Invent

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alexa.design/guide alexa.design/standout alexa.design/officehours alexa.design/devrewards
RESOURCES

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THANK YOU!
J U S T I N J E F F R E S S @ S L E E P Y D E V E L O P E R
A L X 4 0 1 : A D V A N C E D S K I L L C O N V E R S AT I O N A N D M E M O R Y
F R A N K L I N L O B B @ F R A N K L I N L O B B